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PROTECTION AGAINST THE PRESIDENT. 



SPEECH 



HON. CHARLES '^SUMNER, 

OF MASSACHUSETTS, 



THE TENURE OF CERTAIN CIVIL OFFICES; 

,.J DELIVERED 

/i 

IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, JANUARY 15, 17, AND 18, 1867. 



WASHINGTON: 
PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1867. 



PROTECTION AGAINST THE PRESIDENT. 



Tuesday, January 15, 1867. 
The iSenate resumed the consideration of 
" A bill to regulate the tenure of certain civil 
offices." 

Mr. Sumner offered the following amend- 
ment as an additional section : 

And be it further enacted. That all officers or agents, 
except clerks of Departments, now appointed by the 
President or by the head of any Department, whoso 
salary or compensation, derived from fees or other- 
wise, exceeds 81,000 annually, shall be nominated by 
the President and appointed by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate; and the term of all such 
officers or agents who have been .appointed since the 
1st davof July, 18G13, cither by the President or by the 
head of a Department, without the advice and con- 
sent of the Benate, shall expire on the last day oi 
February, 1867. 

In reply to Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, who 
had charge of the bill and opposed this amend- 
ment, 

Mr. SUMNER .said: Mr. President, the 
proposition that I have offered now I moved 
yesterday on another bill in a slightly different 
form, but it was substantially the same. I did 
not understand at that time that there was any 
objcctiou to it in principle. It was opposed as 
not being germane to the bill in hand ; or if it 
was germane its adoption on that bill was sup- 
posed in some way to emb.arrass its passage. 
On that ground, as I understand, it was 
opposed. It was not opposed on its merits. 
Senators who spoke against it avowed their 
partiality to it, if I understood them aright, 
and they said that if they had an opportunity on 
any pro'per bill they would vote for it. 

Well, sir, I now move it again on another 
bill, to which I believe all will admit it is en- 
tirely crerraane. There is no suggestion that it 
is uot'gcrmane. It is completely in order. 
But the objection of the Senator from_ Ver- 
mont, if I understand him, is that it may inter- 
fere somewhat with the symmetry of his bill, 
and introduce an element which he,_ who has 
tJiat bill in charge and now conducts it so ably, 



had not intended to introduce. Very well, sir ; 
that may be said ; but I do not think it ia a 
very strong objection. 

Then, again, if I understood the Senator 
aright, he said that this amendment if ingrafted 
on his bill might endanger it. I think he is 
mistaken. I think so far from endangering the 
bill my amendment would give it strength. 

Mr. HOWE. Merit. 

Mr. SUMNER. My friend says merit. It 
would give it l)oth strength and merit. Why? 
Because it is a proposition which grows out of 
the exigency of the hour. His bill on a larger 
scale is just such a proposition. It grows out 
of the exigency of the hour, and this is its 
strength and its merit. We shall pass that, 
if we do pass it, and I hope we shall, in order 
to meet a crisis. We all feel its necessity. 
But the proposition which I now move grows 
equally out of the exigency of the hour. If 
ingrafted on the bill it will be like the original 
measure, to meet the demands of the moment. 
It will be because without it we shall leave 
something undone which we ought to do. 

Now, I ask Senators about me is there any 
one who doubts that under the circumstances 
such a provision ought to pass? Is there any 
one who doubts, after what we have seen on 
a large scale, that the President, for the time 
being at least, ought to be deprived of the ex- 
traordinary function which he has exercised? 
He has announced openly in public speech 
that he meant to " kick out of office" present 
incumbents, and it was in this proceeding of 
" kicking out of office" that on his return to 
Washington afterward he undertook to^ re- 
move incumbents wherever he could. Now, 
sir, it seems to me that we owe our protection 
to these incumbents so far as possible. It 
belongs to the duty of the hour. If the Sen- 
ator from Vermont will tell me any other way 
in which this proposition can be promoted suc- 
cessfully I shall gladly follow him ; but until 



then I think that I ought to insist that it shall 
share the fortunes of the bill which he is now 
conducting, "enjoy its triumph, and partake 
its gale." If the bill succeeds, then let this 
mensure, which is as good as the bill. 

But the suggestion has been made that the 
proposition should be matured perhaps in a 
committee. Why, sir, the proposition is very 
simple. Any one can mature it who apj^lies 
his mind to it for a few moments, it has 
already been before the Senate for several days, 
discussed once, twice, three times, I think, not 
elaborately, but still discussed, so that its mer- 
its have become known, and beside its discus- 
sion in open Senate I am a witness that it has 
been canvassed in conversation much. There 
are many Senators who have applied their minds 
to it, and I may say that in offering it now I do 
not merely speak for myself, but for others, and 
the proposition in the form in which I present 
it is not merely my own, but it is the proposi- 
tion of many other Senators on this floor, to 
whose careful supervision it has been submit- 
ted. Therefore I say that it is matured, so far 
as is necessary, and there is no reason why the 
Senate should not act ujDon it. Why postpone 
what is in itself so essentially good? Why put 
off to some unknown future the chance of 
applying a remedy to an admitted abuse ? Is 
there any one here who insists that this is not 
un abuse, that here has not been a tyrannical 
exercise of power? No one. Then, sir, let 
us apply the remedy. This is the first chance 
we can get. Let us take it. 

The debate on this bill and Mr. Sumner's 
amendment was continued, the amendment 
being sujiported by Senators Sumner, Grimes, 
Howe, and Si'rague, and opposed by Senators 
Fessexdex, Craoin, Sherman, McDougall, 
WiLLET, and Hendricks. " 



Thursday, January 17, 1867. 

The Senate again having the subject under 
consideration — 

Mr. SUMNER said : As the proposition on 
which the Senate is about to vote was brought 
forward by me I hope that I may have the in- 
dulgence of the Senate for a few minutes. 
Had I succeeded in catching the eye of the 
Chair at the proper time I should, perhaps, have 
said something in repl)' to the Senator from 
Indiana, [Mr. Hendricks,] but he has already 
been answered by the Senator from California, 
[Mr. CoNNESS.] Besides, the topics which he 
introduced were, if I may so express myself, 
political in their character. He did not ad- 
dress himself directly to the proposition on which 
you are to vote. I do not say that his remarks 
were irrelevant; but obviously he seized the 
occasion to make a political speech. The Sen- 
ator is an excellent debater ; he always speaks 
to the point as he understands it ; and yet his 
point is apt to be political. Of course he speaks 
as one having authority with his party, in which 
he is an acknowladged leader. And now, sir, 



you will please to remark, he comes forward as 
a leader for the President of the United States. 
The Senator from Indiana, an old-school Dem- 
ocrat — he will not deny the appellation — now 
presents himself as the defender of the Presi- 
dent. Very well. I congratulate the President 
upon so able a defender. Before this great con- 
troversy is closed the President will need all 
the ability, all the experience, all the admirable 
powers of debate which belong to the distin- 
guished Senator. 

As I propose to recall the Senate precisely 
to the question before us, I shall begin by ask- 
ing the Secretary to read the amendment which 
I have offered. 

The Secretary read the amendment, when— 

Mr. SUMNER continued : Now, Mr. Pre.si- 
dent, I do not wish to be diverted from that 
plain proposition into any general discussion 
of a merely political character. I ask your 
attention to the simple question on which you 
are to vote. 

And here I meet the objections which have 
been brought against my amendment, so far as 
I have been able to comprehend them. They 
have chiefly found a voice, iinless I am much 
mistaken in the Senator from JIaine, [Mr. 
Fessenden,] who is as earnest as he is unques- 
tionably able. The Senator began with a 
warning, and his beginning gave a tone to all 
that he said. He warned us not to forget the 
lessons of the past; and he warned us also not 
to fall under the influence of any animosity. 
When he warned us not to forget the lessons 
of the past such was his earnestness that he 
seemed to me fresh from the study of Confu- 
cius. No learned Chinese, anxious that there 
should be no departure from the ancient ways 
and filled with devotion for distant progenitors, 
could have enjoined that duty more reverently. 
We were to follow what had been done in the 
past. Now, sir, I have a proper deference for 
the past ; I recognize its lessons and seek to 
comprehend them; but I am not a Chinese to 
be swathed by any traditions. I break all 
bands and wrappers when the occasion requires. 
I trust that the Senator from Maine will do so 
likewise. The occasion now is of such a char- 
acter that his lesson is entirely inapplicable. 
It is well to regard the Past, and study its teach- 
ings. It is well also to regard the Future, and 
seek to provide for its necessities. This is 
plain enough. 

Then, sir, we are notto act under the influence 
of animosity. Excellent counsel : but pray 
what Senator on an occasion like this, when 
wo strive to place in the statutes of the country 
an important land-mark, can allow himself to 
act ilnder any such influence? Is the Senator 
from Maine the only one who can claim such 
immunity? I am sure he will not make any 
such exclusive claim. As he is conscious that 
he is free from this disturbing influence, so also 
am I. He is not more free from it than 1 am. 
Most sincerely from my heart do I disclaim all 



animosity. I bave nothing of the kind. I see 
nothing on this occasion but my duty. 

And when I speak of my duty, I speak of 
■whit I would emphatically call the duty of the 
hour. I tried the other day in what passed 
between myself and the Senator from Maine 
briefly to illustrate this idea. I said that we 
are not to act absolutely with reference to 
the past ; nor absolutely with reference to the 
future, but we are to act in the present. Each 
hour has its duties and this hour has duties 
such as few other hours in our history have ever 
presented. Is there any one who can question 
it? Are we not in the midst of a crisis? It is 
sometimes said that we are in the midst of a 
revolution. Call it if you will simply a crisis. 
It is a critical hour, having its own peculiar 
responsibilities. Now, if you ask me in what 
the duty of the hour specially centers, on 
what the duty of the hour specially pivots, I 
have a very easy reply : it is in protection to the 
loyal and patriotic citizen, wherever he maybe. 
I repeat it, protection to the loyal and patriotic 
citizen is the imminent duty of the hour. This 
duty is so commanding, so engrossing, so ab- 
sorbing, so peculiar, let me say in one word, 
so sacred, that to neglect is like the neglect of 
every thing. It is nothing less than a general 
abdication. 

Such, I say emphatically is the duty of the 
hour, in the presence of which it is vain for 
the Senator from Maine to cite the experience i 
of other times when no such duty was urgent. 
He does not meet the case. What he says is 
irrelevant. All that was done in the past may 
have been well done. For it now I have no 
criticism ; but at this hour it is absolutely inap- 
plicable. 

I return, then, to my proposition, that the 
duty of the hour is protection to the loyal and 
patriotic citizen. But when I have said this 
I have not completed the proposition. You 
may ask, protection against whom? I answer 
plainly, protection against the President of 
the United States. There, sir, is the duty of 
the hour. Ponder it well, and do not forget 
it. There was no such duty on our fathers ; 
there was no such duty on our recent prede- 
cessors in this Chamber, because thece was no 
President of the United States who had become 
the enemy of his country. 

Mr. SuMXEK was here called to order by Mr. 
McDouGALL, who insisted that no Senator had 
a right to make use of such words in speaking 
of tiie President of the United States. There 
was much question as to what Mr. Sumner 
reall}' said. 

The PRESiuixt; Officer decided that Mr. 
SuMXER was in order, from which decision Mr. 
McDoLGALL appealed ; but finally withdrew 
his appeal, when — 

!ifr. SUMNEPt continued : When I was inter- 
rupted in the extraordinary way which the Sen- 
ate witnessed a few moments ago. I was trying 
to present reasons in favor of the proposition 



on which we are to vote, and I insisted as 
strongly as I could that the special duty of the 
hour was protection to loyal and patriotic 
citizens against the President of the United 
States ; I was replying to what fell from the 
Senator from Maine, who seems, if I may judge 
from his argument, to feel that there is no 
occasion for special safeguards at this hour, 
and that the system left by our fathers is enough. 
In this reply I used language which, according 
to the short-hand reporter, was as follows. He 
has kindly written it out and sent it to me. I 
read from his notes : 

" There, sir, is the duty of the hovir. There was no 
such duty on our fathers : there was no such duty on 
our recent predecessors, because there was no Presi- 
dent of the United States who had becomethe enemy 
of his country." 

Such were the words which I used when sud- 
denly interrupted. By those words, sir, I stand. 

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I raise a question of 
order, whether these words are in order, as 
stated by the Senator? 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair 
has already decided a similar point of order. 
The Chair will submit this question to the 
Senate. 

The Presiding Officer afterward decided 
that Mr. ScMNER was in order. Mr. Doo- 
LiTTLE appealed from this decision, and ^Ir. 
Lane moved to lay this appeal upon the table. 
Amid much confusion other motions were in- 
terposed. At last a vote was reached on the 
motion of Mr. Laxe. 

The yeas and nays were ordered ; and being 
taken, resulted — yeas 29, nays 10; as follows: 

YEAS— Messrs. Brown. Cattell, Chandler, Con- 
ness. Cragin, Edmunds. Fessenden, Fogg, Fowler, 
Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Harris, Henderson, Howard, 
Howe, Kirliwood, Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Ramsey, 
Sherman. Sprague, Stewart, Van Winkle, Wade, 
Willey. Williams. Wilson, and Yates— 29. 

NAYS — Messrs. Buclialew. Cowan, Dixon, Doolit- 
tle. Hendricks. Johnson, McDougall, Norton, Patter- 
son, and Saulsbury— 10. 

ABSENT OR NOT VOTING— Messrs. Anthony, 
(presiding,) Creswell, Davis, Foster, (iuthrie, Nes- 
mith, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Riddle, Ross, Sumner, 
and Trumbull— 13. 

So the. appeal from the decision of the Chair 
was laid upon the table. 

Mr. Sumner, who was in his seat, refrained 
from voting. 

The Senate then adjourned. 



Friday, January 18, 1867. 

Mr. SUMNER having the floor, continued 
as follows: 

It is only little more than a year ago that 
I felt it my duty to characterize a message of 
the IPresident as "white- washing."' _The_ mes- 
sage represented the condition of things in the 
rebel States as fair and promising when the 
prevailing evidence was directly the other wa.y. 
Of course the message was'^'whitewashing," 
and this was a mild term for such a document. 
But you do not forget how certain Senators, 
horror-struck at this plainness, leaped forward 



6 



to vindicate the President. Yesterday some of 
tliesesarneSenators,horror-struckagain, leaped 
forward again in the same task. Time has shown 
that I was right on the former occasion. If any- 
body doubts that I was right yesterday I com- 
mend him to time. He will not be obliged to 
wait long. Meanwhile I shall insist always 
upon complete freedom of debate, and I shall 
exercise it. John Milton, in his glorious aspi- 
rations, said, "Give me the liberty to know, 
to utter, and to argue freely above all liber- 
ties." Thank God, now that slave-masters 
have been driven from this Chamber, such is 
the liberty of an American Senator I Of course 
there can be no citizen of a llepublic too high 
for exposure, as there can be none too low for 
protection. The exposure of the powerful and 
the protection of the weak; these are not only 
invaluable liberties but commanding duties. 

At last the country is opening its eyes to the 
actual condition of things. Already it sees 
that Andrew Johnson, who came to supreme 
power by a bloody accident, has become the 
successor of Jefferson Davis in the spirit by 
which he is governed and in the mischief he is 
inflicting on his country. It sees the Presi- 
dent of the Rebellion revived in the President 
of the United States. It sees that the violence 
which took the life of his illustrious predecessor 
is now ])y his perverse complicity extending 
throughout the rebel States, making all who 
love the Union its victims and filling the land 
with tragedy. It sees that the war upon faith- 
ful Unionists is still continued under his power- 
ful auspices, without any distinction of color, 
so that all, both white and black, are sacri- 
ficed. It sees that he is the minister of discord, 
and not the minister of peace. It sees that, 
so long as his influence prevails, there is small 
chance of tranquillity, security, or reconcilia- 
tion ; that the restoration of prosperity in the 
rebel States, so much longed for, must be ar- 
rested ; that the business of the whole country 
must be embarrassed, and that those conditions 
on which a sound currency depends must be 
postponed. All these things the country now 
sees. But indignation assumes the form of 
judgment when it is seen also that this incred- 
ible, unparalleled, and far-reaching mischief, 
second o"'y to the Rebellion itself, of which it 
is a contniuation, is created, invigorated and 
extended through a plain usurpation. 

I know that the President sometimes quotes 
the Constitution and professes to carry out its 
behests. But this pretension is of little value. 
A French historian, whose fame as a writer is 
eclipsed by his greater fame as an orator, who 
has held important posts, and now in advancing 
years is still eminent in public life, has used 
words which aptly characterize an attempt like 
that of the President. I quote from the history 
of M. Thiers, while describing what is known 
as the resolution of the 18th Brumaire : 

" When any one wishes to make a revolution or a 
counter-revolution it is necessary always to disguise 
the illegality as much as possible and to this end to 
use the terms of the Constitution in order to destroy 



it, and also the members of a Government in order 
to overturn it." 

In this spirit the President has acted. He has 
bent Constitution, laws, and men to his arbi- 
trary will, and has even invoked the Declara- 
tion of Independence forthe overthrow of those 
Equal Rights which it so grandly proclaims. 

In holding up Andrew Johnson to judgment, 
I do not dwell on his open exposure of himself 
in a condition of beastly intoxication while he 
was taking his oath of office ; nor do I dwell 
on the maudlin speeches by which he has de- 
graded the couutry as it was never degraded 
before ; nor do I hearken to any reports of 
pardons sold, or of personal corruption. This 
is not the case against him, as I deem it my 
duty to present it in this argument. These 
things are bad, very bad ; but they might not, 
in the opinion of some Senators, justify us on 
the present occasion. In other words, they 
might not be a sufficient reason forthe amend- 
ment which I have moved. 

But there is a reason which is ample. The 
President has usurped the powers of Congress 
on a colossal scale, and he has employed these 
usurped powers in fomenting the rebel spirit 
and awakening anew the dying fires of the re- 
bellion. Though the head of the Executive, 
he has rapaciously seized the powers of the 
Legislative and made himself a whole Con- 
gress in defiance of a cardinal principle of 
republican government that each branch must 
act for itself without assuming the powers of 
the other ; and, in the exercise of these illegit- 
imate powers, he has become a terror to the 
good and a support to the wicked. Tliis is 
his great and unpardonable offense, for which 
history must condemn him if you do not. He 
is a usurper, through whom infinite wrong has 
been done to his country. He is a usurper, 
who, promising to be a Moses, has become a 
Pharaoh. Do you ask for evidence? No wit- 
nesses are needed to prove this guilt. It is 
found in public acts which are beyond ques- 
tion. It is already written in the history of 
of our country. Absorbing to himself all the 
powers of the national Government, and ex- 
claiming with the French monarch that hi 
alone is "the nation," he has assumed with- 
out color of law to set up new governments ir 
the rebel States, and. in the prosecution of this 
palpable usurpation, he has placed these gov- 
ernments of his own creation in the hands ol 
traitors to the exclusion of patriot citizens, 
white and black, who, through his agency, are 
trampled again under the heel of the rebellion. 
Thus a power plainly illegitimate has been 
wielded to establish governments plainly ille- 
gitimate, which are nothing but engines of an 
intolerable oppression, under which peace and 
union are impossible; and this monstrous usurp- 
ation is now continued in constant efforts by 
every means to enforce the recognition of these 
illegitimate governments, so tyrannical in origin 
and so baneful in the influence which they are 
permitted to exert. And now in the main- 



tenance of his usurpation the President has 
employed the power of removal from office. 
Some, who would not become the partisans of 
his tyranny he has, according to his own lan- 
guage, "kicked out." Others are spared, but 
silenced by this menace and the fate of their 
associates. Wherever any vacancy occurs, 
whether in the loyal or the rebel States, it is 
filled by the partisans of his usurpation. Other 
vacancies are created to provide for these par- 
tisans. I need not add that just in proportion as 
we sanction such nominations or fail to arrest 
them, according to the measure of our power, 
we become parties to his usurpation. 

Here I am brought directly to the practical 
application of this simple statement. I have 
already said that the duty of the hour is in 
protection to the loyal and patriotic citizen 
against the President. Surely this cannot be 
doubted. The first duty of a Government is 
protection. The crowning glory of a Republic 
IS that it leaves no man, however humble, 
without protection. Show me a man exposed 
to wrong and I show you an occasion for the 
e.xercise of all the power that God and the 
Constitution have given you. It will not do to 
say that the cases are too numerous, or that 
the remedy cannot be applied without inter- 
fering with a system handed down from our 
fathers, or worse still, that you have little sym- 
pathy with this suffering. This will not do. You 
must apply the remedy, or fail in duty. Espe- 
cially must you apply it when, as on the present 
occasion, this wrong is part of a huge usurp- 
ation in the interest of recent Rebellion. 

The question then recurs, are you ready to 
apply the remedy, according to the measure 
of your powers? The necessity of this remedy 
may be seen in the rebel States, and also in the 
loyal States, for the usurpation is feltwn both. 

If you look at the rebel States, you will see 
everywhere the triumph of Presidential tyranny. 
There is not a mail which does not bring letters 
"without number supplicating the exercise of 
all the powers of Congress against the Presi- 
dent. There is not a newspaper which does 
not exhibit evidence that you are already tardy 
in this work of necessity. There is not a wind 
from that suffering region which is not freighted 
with voices of distress. And yet you hesitate. 

I shall not be led aside to consider the full 
remedy for this usurpation ; for it is not my 
habit to travel out of the strict line of debate. 
Therefore, I confine myself to the bill now 
under consideration, which is applicable alike 
to the loyal and the rebel States. 

This bill has its origin in what I have already 
called the special duty of the hour, which is 
the protection of loyal and patriotic citizens 
against the President. In what I have already 
said I have shown the necessity of this protec- 
tion. But the brutal language which the Presi- 
dent has employed shows the spirit in which 
he has acted. The Senator from Indiana, [Mr. 
Hendricks,] whose judgment could not ap- 
prove this brutality, doubted if the President 



had used it. Let me settle this question. Here 

is the National Intelligencer, always indulgent 
to the President. In its number for loth of 
September^ast it thus reports what our Chief 
Magistrate said in a speech at St. Louis: 

"I believe that one set of men have enjoyed the 
emoluments of office loiif? enough, and they should 
let another portion of the people have a chance, 
[Cheers.] How are these men to be got out, [a voice 
"Kick 'em out,' — cheers and lau!?hter,] unless your 
Executive can put them out — unless you can reach 
them through the President? Congress saya ho shall 
not turn them out, and they are trying to pass laws 
to prevent it being done. Well, let me sny to you, 
if you will stand by me in this action — [cheers] — if 
you will stand by me in trying to give the people a 
fair chance — to have soldiers and citizens to partici- 
pate in theseolEces — Godbc willing, I will kick them 
out; I will kick themout justas fastasi can." [Great 
cheering.] 

Such language as this is without precedent. 
Coming from the President, it is a declaration 
of "policy" which it is your duty to counter- 
act; and in this duty you must make a prece- 
dent, if need be. 

The bill now before the Senate arises from 
this necessity. Had Abraham Lincoln been 
spared to us there would have been no occasion 
for this bill, which the Senator from Vermont 
[Mr. Edmunds] has shaped with so much care, 
and now presses so earnestly. It is a bill 
arising from the exigency of the hour. As 
such it is to be judged. But it does not meet the 
whole case. Undertaking to give protection, it 
gives it to a few only, instead of the many. It 
provides against the removal of persons whose 
offices, according to existing law and Consti- 
tution, are held by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate. Its special object is to 
vindicate the power of the Senate over the 
offices committed to it according to existing 
law and Constitution. Thus vindicating the 
power of the Senate it does something indi- 
i-ectly for the protection of the citizen. In 
this respect it is a beneficent measure, and I 
shall be glad to vote for it. 

The amendment which I have moved goes 
further in the same direction. It provides 
that all agents and officers now appointed by 
the President, or by the head of a Department, 
shall be appointed only by and with the ad- 
vice and consent of the Senate ; and it further 
proceeds to vacate all such appointments made 
since 1st July last past, so as in a certain 
measure to arrest the recent process of "kick- 
ing out. ' ' This proposition is simple enough ; 
and I insist that it is necessary, unless you are 
willing to leave fellow-citizens without protec- 
tion against tyranny. Really the case is so 
plain that I do not like to argue it, and yet 
you will pardon me if I advert to certain 
objections which have been made. 

We have been told that the number of persons 
it would bring before the Senate is such that it 
would clog and embarrass the public business; 
in other words, that we have not time to deal 
with so many cases. This is a strange argu- 
ment. Because the victims are numerous, 
therefore, we are to fold our hands and let the 



sacrifice proceed. But I insist that just in pro- 
portion to the number is the urgency of your 
duty. Every victim has a voice, and when these 
voices count by thousands you have no right to 
turn away and say, "these are too numerous 
for the attention of the Senate." This is my 
answer to the objection founded on numbers. 

But this is not all. You did not shrink dur- 
ing the war from the numerous nominations of 
military officers, counting b}' thousands ; nor 
did you shrink from the numerous nominations 
of naval officers, counting by thousands. The 
power over these nominations you never re- 
laxed, and I know well you never will relax. 
You know that, even if unable to consider 
carefully ever}' case, yet the power over them 
enables you to interpose your veto on any 
improper nomination. The power of the Sen- 
ate is a warning against tyranny in the Ex- 
ecutive. But it Is difficult to see any strong 
reason for this power in the case of the Army 
and Navy which is not applicable also to 
civil officers. This I should say in tranquil 
tiines ; but there is another reason peculiar to 
the hour. Even if in tranquil times I were 
disposed to leave the appointing power as it is, 
I am not disposed now. 

Then, again, we are told that we must not 
abandon the system of our fathers. I have 
already answered this objection precisely, in 
saying that, whatever may have been the 
system of the fathers, it is Inadequate for the 
present hour. But I am not satisfied that the 
proposition moved by me is inconsistent with 
the system of the fathers. The officers of the 
internal revenue did not exist then, and the 
inferior oflicers of the customs Avere few in 
number and with small emoluments. But all 
district attornies and marshals, even if their 
salary was no more than .'?200, were subject to 
the confirmation of the Senate. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. And so they are yet. 
Mr. SUMNER. And so they are yet, the 
Senator reminds me, and justly ; but can the 
Senator doubt that if at the time when those 
officers were made subject to the confirmation 
of the Senate, weighers and gangers and in- 
spectors had been as well paid as they are now 
that they too would have been brought under 
the control of this body ? I cannot. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. I do not think they would. 
Mr. SUMNER. The Senator does not think 
they would. But even if the Senator does not 
accept the view which I now present on the 
probable course of our fathers, he cannot resist 
the argument that, whatever may have been the 
old system, we must act now in the light of pres- 
ent duties. I repeat, a system good for our 
fathers may not be good for this hour, which is 
so full of danger. 

Then, again, we are told, with something of 
indifference If not of levity, that it is not the 
duty of the Senate to look after the "bread 
and butter" of office-holders. This is a fa- 



miliar way of saying that these small cases ar 
not worthy of occupying the Senate. Not s 
do I understand our duties. There is no cas 
so small as not to be worthy of occupying th 
Senate ; especiallj' if in this way you can save 
citizen from oppression and weaken the powe 
of an oppressor. 

Something has been said about the curtail 
ment of the executive power ; and the Sen 
ator from Maine [Mr. Fessexdex] has eve 
argued against the amendment moved by m 
as conferring upon the President addition:: 
230wers. This is strange. The effect of thi 
amendment Is, by clear intendment, to tak 
from the President a large class of nomine 
tions and bring them within the control of th 
Senate. Thus it Is obviously a curtailment o 
executive power, which I insist has becom 
our bounden duty. The old resolution of th 
House of Commons, moved by Mr. Dunning 
Is applicable here : "The power of the Crow 
has Increased, Is Increasing, and ought to b 
diminished." In this spirit we must put a bi 
in the President, who is now maintaining a: 
Illegitimate power by removals from office. 

Mr. President, I have used moderate Ian 
guage, strictly applicable to the question befor 
us. But it Is my duty to remind you how much th 
public welfare depends now upon courageou 
counsels. Courage Is now the highest wisdom 
Do not forget that we stand face to face wit 
an enormous and malignant usurper, throng 
whom the Republic is Imperiled — that Reput 
lie which, according to our oaths of office, w 
are bound to save from all harm. The line 
are drawn. On one side is the President, an 
on the other side is the people of the Unite 
States. It is the old pretension of prerogativ 
to be encountered, I trust, by that same ines 
orableHletermination which once lifted Eno 
land to heroic heights. The pretension noi 
Is more outrageous, and its consequences ar 
more deadly; surely the resistance cannot b 
less complete. An American President mus 
not claim an immunity which was denied to a; 
English king. In this conflict, which he has s 
madly precipitated, I am with the people. Ii 
the President I put no trust; but in the peopl 
I put infinite trust. Who will not stand witl 
the people? 

Here, sir, I close what I have to say at thi 
time. But before I take my seat, you will par 
don me if I read a brief lesson, which seem 
as if written for the hour. The words are a 
beautiful as emphatic : 

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate t 
the stormy present. The occasion is piled high witl 
difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. A 
our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew 
We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall savi 
our country," 

Theseare the words of Abraham Lincoln. The] 
are as full of vital force now as when he utterec 
them. I entreat you not to neglect the lesson 
Learn from its teaching ho w to save our country 









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